


The Fountain of Forgiveness

by Gairid



Category: Vampire Chronicles - All Media Types, Vampire Chronicles - Anne Rice
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-28
Updated: 2010-04-28
Packaged: 2017-10-09 05:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/83526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gairid/pseuds/Gairid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lestat has a question for Louis regarding the time he spent with Armand-misunderstandings put to rest and forgiveness bestowed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fountain of Forgiveness

  
**The Fountain of Forgiveness**  


"You're not actually stewing over this, are you?" Louis raised his head from my chest and regarded me with a quizzical eye.

"I'm not stewing over it, Louis. I just asked a question."

The rill of blood at the corner of his mouth caught my eye and I touched my finger to the red wetness; he caught my hand and kissed my knuckles.

"I know where your questions often lead us, my love," he said acerbically. "I recognize a reconnoitering question when I hear it."

He was right, of course. I always believe my temper will not get the best of me and asking him about Armand was uncharted territory. Did I really want to know? His gaze was steady, his eyes somewhat distant.

"I admit to curiosity," I said finally.

"There was...physicality," he said, "But there was little in the way of intimacy. What he did to my body mattered very little to me. I looked for expiation, but I did not find it. I wanted surcease from pain but there was none to be had. When I looked at him, I saw the strands of Claudia's golden hair gleaming in the gray ash that had been her body."

"And what did he see when he looked at you?" I said, half to myself.

"When he looked at me he saw what he wanted to see, though I don't pretend to understand his motivations or the way his mind works. I wonder sometimes what exactly he thought I could give him. Was I revenge for what happened between the two of you? Was Claudia? "

The question I had asked him was turned back on me. Possessive creature that I am, I hated that Armand had possessed him in any way, but more than that I was appalled at the depth of pain that lingered in Louis still and enraged at the ease that Armand displayed in his manipulation of the situation.

Who was the weak one? Louis? Perhaps he was from a physical standpoint in the vampire world, but of all of us, he has yet to go to ground. He does not hide from those things that hurt him, including me. No, he is not weak, not Louis with his iron will, his utter lack of fear.

He sighed and pressed his face into my neck. I felt the hardness of his teeth beneath his lips and wished he would pierce me, drain me--I longed for it, desired it at this moment because in that way, perhaps, I could offer my own expiation for my part in that sorry, sad, dreadful time.

"And what of my part?" Best to just ask him and see what might be done to put it to rest at last. He did not make a direct answer, at least not then.

"She was very like you, Lestat. Her appetites, her cunning--her very beauty, She could really have been your daughter, you know. I always thought that and it was a secret delight to me. She should never have been what she was--if there is such a thing as sin, between us we conspired in one of the worst of them in plucking away her innocence, yet I cannot help but think that I would not change it now except that she would be roaming the world in company with Madeleine." He sat up and clasped his knees to his chest. I could see him in profile through the dark tangle of his hair. He cut his eyes to me. "You came to Paris for me, to take me back to New Orleans, did you not?"

I nodded, mute. It really had been that simple. I had not counted on Armand wishing to covet Louis, though looking back, that should have been immediately obvious.

"I knew that and I was furious with you for coming there. Ah, Lestat, so many, many mistakes. I am furious still, you know. You continue to hide from me. I know you love me but when will you trust me? Don't you see that all of this, even Claudia, would not have been necessary if you had just..."

His voice broke and he rose from the bed with a vampire's eerie speed; it took my breath to see him thus--his erratic and agitated movements startled and devastated--I wanted to claim him, my lust was dizzying, matched by the anguish I felt for pushing him to this point.

"Listen to me. I know now about Marius and the promise extracted. Your loyalty was admirable, but did you not also owe loyalty to me? You brought me to you in love; I know this in my soul and my loyalty was to you. That I could never penetrate your guard hurt me more than I can articulate. Whatever was said or done in Paris, then, is done with. You were used perhaps as much as I was. When Armand pushed you from the tower, he used your lack of knowledge in what gifts we have to injure you so that you were unable to come to me. You know I have forgiven you--how could I do otherwise? I cannot deny you, my love, my own Lestat. I would not."

Again, his eyes told me what he did not say, they pleaded and yet..and yet I held fast to my walls, the doors shut tight and locked. He did not need to see for what could it gain? I didn't want to look at any of it myself.

"So. Now you know. I admit to relief; I thought your ire would be raised well past your control." He smiled wistfully, his white, elegant fangs prominent and beautiful. "Have you nothing to say, then?"

"I say that I love you beyond all reason and that to have you back with me soothes me--you have ever been my heart's ease. I say that I will not forget what Armand has done to you and what he has done to us." I leaned to him. "I say that I regret the things I did that kept us apart and what I did in order to keep you by my side. I say that your forgiveness means more than you can know."

He smiled then and lay back against the pillows, head to one side as he offered himself to me. I pierced him and drank deep and for some little while we were open to one another, caught in the blazing circle that is blood and ecstasy to us.

"I should have trusted your love for me, too," Louis whispered. His voice was hoarse because I had mangled his throat in my passion. "I assumed many things and I was wrong about them."

I hushed him and held him to my chest, letting his scent fill my head. "What a pair we are. It's a wonder we have come this far. Come now; if you will not take from me you need to hunt. I'll come along and I promise not to watch."

"Liar," he said with great fondness. He kissed me with deep passion, his mouth and body pliant against me.

"Tease." I said.

"You wish." He got up and commenced dressing. "What are you waiting for?"

****

FIN


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